Additional Paternity Pay (Adoption)

ASPP has been introduced for any qualifying employee (male or female) who has been jointly matched for adoption on or after 3^rd April 2011 alongside their spouse, partner or civil partner who has taken adoption leave for the child.

ASPP is given to eligible spouses, partners or civil partners of adopters where there is entitlement to Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) and that payment has been brought to an end by the adopter returning to work.

Payments of ASPP count as earnings. You must deduct tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from them in the usual way.

You will normally be able to recover some or all of the ASPP you pay.

PAYING ASPP

ASPP is paid to an employee by their employer in the same way as normal wages. ASPP is paid at the lower of:

• £135.45 or
• 90% of AWE

for pay weeks commencing on or after Sunday 1 April 2012.

The minimum period ASPP can be paid for is two weeks and it will cease when the SAP period ends.

ASPP ends no later than 12 months after the date the child was placed with the adopter or 12 months after the date the child entered the UK.

ASPP is treated as normal pay and is subject to Tax and National Insurance as usual except Attachment of Earnings Orders or Deduction of Earnings Orders.

To claim Additional Statutory Paternity Pay an employee must tell the employer when they intend to take leave by the 8th week before the start of ASPP.

ENTITLEMENTS

ASPP FOR UK ADOPTION

Your employee and the child’s adopter must both satisfy certain conditions for entitlement to ASPP.

EMPLOYEE

Your employee will satisfy the conditions for ASPP if:

• they have been matched for adoption with the child
• they are the spouse, civil partner or partner of the adopter
• they have been employed by you long enough
• they have normal weekly earnings above the LEL in the relevant period
• they intend to care for the child during the ASPP period
• the adopter satisfies their conditions
• the adopter has completed and signed their declaration
• they have given a completed declaration to you

CHILD'S ADOPTER

The child’s adopter must have:

• satisfied the conditions for entitlement to SAP
• taken action to return to work
• taken at least two weeks off work after the child was placed with them
• at least two weeks of their SAP period remaining
• signed the declaration form SC8 to confirm they intend to return to work and will stop receiving SAP.

ASPP for adoption from abroad

Your employee and the child’s adopter must both satisfy certain conditions for entitlement to ASPP.

EMPLOYEE

The conditions are the same as for UK adoption except that your employee does not have to be adopting the child. They must also satisfy two further conditions:

• they are the spouse, civil partner or partner of the adopter
• they have, or expect to have, the main responsibility (apart from the adopter) for the upbringing of the child.

CHILD’S ADOPTER

The conditions are the same as for UK adoption except that instead of having taken at least two weeks off work after the child was placed with them they should have taken at least 2 weeks off work after the child entered the UK.

ASPP AND ADDITIONAL PATERNITY LEAVE START AND END DATES

Your employee has the right to choose when they want to take pay and leave within a set period:

UK ADOPTION

• The earliest start date is 20 weeks after the child was placed with the adopter.
• There must be at least two weeks SAP remaining.
• ASPP must end no later than the end of the SAP period.
• APL cannot exceed 26 weeks, except in exceptional circumstances, and must end no later than 12 months after the date the child was placed with the adopter.
• Your employee may take unpaid APL after the SAP period ends.

ADOPTION FROM ABROAD

• The earliest start date is 20 weeks after the child entered the UK.
• There must be at least two weeks SAP remaining.
• ASPP must end no later than the end of the SAP period.
• APL cannot exceed 26 weeks, except in exceptional circumstances, and must end no later than 12 months after the child entered the UK.
• Your employee may take unpaid APL after the SAP period ends.

RECOVERY OF ASPP

All employers are entitled to recover 92% of ASPP they pay, however, if the employer qualifies for Small Employers Relief, where the total NIC in the previous tax year was under £45,000, they can recover 100% of ASPP paid plus an additional 3% in compensation for payments made.

CALCULATING ASPP (ADOPTION) ON BRIGHT PAY

To access this utility, simply go to Payroll> and select the Employee on left:

1) Under Statutory Pay, click Calendar

2) On the Calendar, select the start date the employee is taking ASPP (Adoption)

3) Select Additional Paternity Leave (Adoption) from the Parenting Leave section at the top right of the screen

4) Under ‘Adopter’s Statutory Adoption Pay’ enter all relevant dates

5) Under 'Additional Paternity Leave Dates' enter the start of leave date and the length of leave

6) Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) - the program will automatically calculate the employee’s average weekly earnings for the purpose of calculating ASPP (Adoption) due.

The user can at their own discretion override the automatic calculation and manually enter an employee’s average weekly earnings. However it is recommended to seek advice from an accountant before doing so. To override the automatic calculation, simply untick the box and enter the amount.

7) Click Submit to save. The program will automatically update the calendar accordingly and apply the ASPP (Adoption)

OVERRIDING THE ‘AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS’ CALCULATION

If existing payment records have not been recorded in Bright Pay, the automatic calculation performed by the program after completing the above may be inaccurate. In the event of this occurring, the user may override the AWE by doing the following:

1) On the main Payroll screen, click Edit icon in the employee’s Statutory Payments section

2) In Additional Paternity Leave (Adoption), select the option ‘Override average weekly earnings’

3) Enter the average weekly earnings amount for the employee, then click out of this box

4) The program will now calculate ASPP (Adoption) based on the AWE manually entered by the user

EDITING LENGTH OF ADDITIONAL STATUTORY PATERNITY LEAVE (ADOPTION)

Should an employee wish to extend or reduce the length of their additional paternity leave (Adoption), the length of leave already entered for the employee can be edited as follows:

1) In Payroll, select the employee’s name on the left

2) Under Statutory Pay, click on Calendar

3) On the Calendar, select any date in advance of the current payroll date and which is currently marked as Additional Paternity Leave (Adoption)

4) Within the Additional Paternity Leave section that will appear to the right of the calendar, click Edit icon

5) Amend the employee’s Length of Leave by selecting the number of weeks now applicable from the drop down menu

6) Click Save Changes

7) Close the Calendar to return to the main Payroll screen

Further information regarding the operation and calculation of Additional Statutory Paternity Pay can be found on the HMRC website or by consulting the HMRC Guide E19 (2012) Employer Helpbook for Ordinary and Additional Statutory Paternity Pay.